Real Life

Xoom For a Day

stargrace April 24, 2011 1Comment

When the ipad 2 released I decided to put myself on the waiting list for one (well, ok the other half did, but it counts!) having never owned a tablet before. I do own an ipod touch (3rd Gen) and I’ve used it every single day for about two years now (I got it for a fantastic price on EBay) and we do own an iphone 3GS in the house (I think that’s the name of it, I may be remembering wrong). The point is I’ve got a pretty established Apple account with apps that I’ve purchased (as well as free ones) itunes, etc.

But I’m always interested in the Android market, especially since a lot of my friends on twitter are split between iOS users and Android users. A trip to Best Buy told me they were out of the ipad 2 (surprise) but they had three more Xoom tablets in stock. The other half and I talked back and forth about the benefits to one or the other and in the end we decided that we would REALLY like to use flash on our tablet, so we bought the 32g Xoom.

That same day, we returned it and sheepishly put ourselves back on the mailing list for an ipad. There were a few reasons for this and I wanted to talk about them just in case others are also trying to make these decisions. Number one, yes, flash worked – but on the Xoom tablet it was INCREDIBLY slow. Because it was so slow swiping the screen at all while using flash was next to impossible, you ended up on the next page or were zoomed in too much or too little. The camera was beautiful and the design was sleek, but it’s also very heavy. The android store is not for the faint of heart. In the Apple store at least I know exactly what I’m getting. Browsing is easy, and I can wander through the different apps and at least know what I’m looking at. The android market on the other hand is really not for beginners like myself. I’m sure with persistence I could have found what I wanted in the form of an app but it was incredibly difficult for me and I just got annoyed.

Netflix is a no-go on the Xoom (or any android) at this point in time. We tried a work around or two and none of them worked. This is due to the lack of protection on the android marketplace, Netflix afraid of people stealing material. There’s talk of an app in the future but it could be some time off (later this year) and one of my main reasons for wanting a tablet at all was to watch Netflix. Being in Canada I don’t have a lot of other movie / tv show streaming options so to me personally it was a big deal.

Not only was Netflix a no-go but I couldn’t find apps for a lot of things I had wanted to use. Things I already had apps for from Apple. I realize this is hardly the Xoom’s fault, for example ShutterCal only has an iOS version. It was just one more reason that I wanted to go back to the safety of what I already knew. My frustrations mounted as I tried to get comfortable with the device and after fiddling around with it for a few hours it just wasn’t clicking for me. Back into the box and back to the store.

The ipad gets here May 10th, and yes, I’m excited. Even more so now that I’ve played with my Fathers (he waited in line at the Apple store on release day for 15 hours to get his). My Mom gets hers tomorrow. In some ways, it almost feels like a comparison of WoW vs. Other Games to me. You hate to use it, but you always go back because it’s just so simple and easy.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Musings About The Internet

stargrace April 7, 2011 5Comments

There have been a number of large internet debates here in Canada over the last little while. There is the discussion going on currently about having user caps (as low as 25 gigs a month) and charging $2+ every gig over the cap. There are also continuous debates over throttling, and the monopoly that Rogers has over the market (although it does share that market with Bell Canada). The latest news bit is about how Rogers is throttling World of Warcraft players because WoW uses peer-to-peer to transfer game files. Rogers has throttled peer-to-peer for as long as I can remember, and that was one major reason why I stopped using their service. As not only a gamer, but a gamer writing about games it was next-to impossible for me to download a game (especially a free to play game) in time for an article because I would be throttled every inch of the way. I very literally could not do my job using Rogers internet service. I have since switched, and while my service is actually slower the fact that I’m not throttled is a blessing.

For a country that is considered to be ‘free’ in many aspects (healthcare, etc) we sure do have a lot of issues when it comes to technology. Every time I see a commercial for AT&T High Speed Internet my stomach does flip flops – the prices are noticeably lower for the services provided compared to what I see up here. Jealous? Of course I am – a little bit.

These days just about everything is on the internet, not just my video games. I subscribe and pay to use Netflix to stream tv shows and movies – and they actually had to lower their video quality in order to cater to Canadians who have low internet usage caps put in place by their ISP. It would seem that Netflix is afraid of losing customers who may worry about the rate that their data transfers. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we be increasing the quality and performance (at a lower cost) of internet usage instead?

I truly love where I live and appreciate the comforts that we’re given on a daily basis, but I hate to see that we’re falling so far behind the curve in this matter.

In other news! My bard has completed her 1.5 epic and it looks amazing. I also spent a little time in Rift last night, participating in the world wide event that has taken over. My cleric is still hanging out at level 21, but it was nice to peek in and see how the server was doing population wise. I hope everyone else has a delightful Thursday (this is my Friday, woohoo for three day weekends) and happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Please Don’t Force me to Give up my Job #CRTC #meterednet

stargrace February 1, 2011 11Comments

If you haven’t heard, Canada is switching to a metered billing plan for internet usage – a bill passed to make this ridiculous thing legal. What this means basically is that we (users of the internet in Canada) will have an incredibly low cap on internet – right now it’s being spoken of as 25 gigs a month. For every gig OVER this 25 gigs a month, we will be charged extra. The number right now, is $2 a gig.

That’s the jist of it. If you want specifics, please take a look at my friend David’s in depth post. It’s a fantastic read. You can also find more information here, and here.

My job requires me to download multiple games every single month in order to write about them. I also work from home, so I use my home internet. That does not include any internet I use for regular things like downloading movies, ipod apps, netflix, youtube, game play and game patching. That doesn’t include the multiple purchases from steam, etc. There is, quite frankly, NO WAY I will be able to afford to do my job with this cap in effect. I simpley can not afford to pay $2 extra for every gig I go over the cap, I don’t make enough money.

PLEASE speak up about this fellow Canadians. Contact your local government officials, sign the petitions going around and get involved. This is NOT ok to implement, the internet is supposed to becoming EASIER to access, not only for the rich who can afford it.

Please help out by spreading this news around to your fellow Canadians who may not be aware of these changes.

Another great post here by Darren from Common Sense Gamer – check it out.